The Lebanese Pound (LP) continues to steady within the range of $/LP 1,514 – 1,514.5 against the dollar, with a mid-price of $/LP 1,514.25 this week.
Lebanese Forex Market
The peg continues to be supported by the Central Bank’s solid foreign assets, which were further replenished to reach $38.1B by November 2019. The dollarization ratio of private sector deposits increased from 70.62% in Dec. 2018 to 73.43% in October 2019. The Euro depreciated against the dollar-pegged LP, going from last week’s €/LBP 1,682.47 to €/LBP 1,668.24 this week. As for the Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) of the LBP, it added a weekly 0.48% to 118.11 points by the week ending Dec. 19th 2019.
International Forex Market
The Euro/USD currency pair slipped from €/USD 1.1161 last week, to €/USD 1.1066 by December 19th. The week witnessed a main event, the impeachment of President Trump; however, the dollar, like the bonds market, quickly shrugged off the likely impeachment of the president in the Senate, especially on the back of stronger data on the US economy especially with US industrial production rebounding in November as the General Motors’ workers strike ended, while building permits grew above expectations in November.
Commodities International gold prices climbed slightly from last week’s $1,472/ounce to this week’s $1,478/ounce.